This is Marie-Sol from the Red Steel development team! I want to take this opportunity today to give you different news and updates about our game.

As you can imagine, we are in a very busy period of time for quite a few weeks now. We're focused on polishing the game and controls, debugging and also finalizing the multiplayer modes of Red Steel that we will reveal soon.

In August, we were excited to attend the Game Convention in Leipzig. In fact, even if we could not present a new version of the game vs. E3 at that time, it was the first time we could present the game massively to Europe. The feedback we received during the show was very enthusiastic and a big source of motivation for the team!

More recently we have been part of the worldwide Nintendo events, in New York, London and Tokyo. We were very proud to finally reveal first maps of the game! If you?ve seen the last video we put on the Net at the same time, this will give you an idea of what?s to come.

Now, these days, play testing and pizza are our main daily and nightly tasks. But it?s worth it. Especially when we see the results. We think we?ve succeeded in getting impressive visuals and effects that you will also discover through the whole game, such as traditional Japanese houses, impressive bamboo forest, and very nice weather effects ? I don't want to reveal too much on what happens there but I'm sure you'll like it too!

To finish, I just wanted to let you know that we keep reading your reactions and feedback on the internet. Thanks for your support!

My name is Jerome Collette, scriptwriter on Red Steel. I?m here today to talk a little about the game experience in Red Steel and why the Wii Pad is a central element of it.

To begin, I wanted to say that my role as a scriptwriter was to be part of the core creative team since the very beginning of the project. We worked hand in hand with the creative director, producers and level designers so that the plot, the universe and the gameplay all go in the same direction to give a consistent and interesting experience to the player.

As the game is a First Person Shooter, we needed a simple plot, understandable from the point of view of the hero and also a hero anyone could identify with. This is something really important to me as I really consider that especially in FPS it is key, that the player feel he is the hero acting.

In Red Steel, this immersion is reinforced by the use of the Nintendo controller. I had to write a story focused on it and the experience the player feels while handling it and mastering it.

That is why I came to the idea that the plot turns around a sword, the Katana Giri. The hero?s journey, trying and mastering the sword is the same as the player using and mastering the Wii Pad. The identification prevails.

And the importance of the sword/Wii Pad is reinforced by the fact that this is also the only solution to solve your problems: It?s the thing your enemies want, the only way to get back your love one.

So, you have to fight with it, you have to train, to master it and prove your skills against your enemies or in front of your mentors to progress and succeed.

Later in the game, you discover that Tokai, your enemy, wants to take the katana giri, as it represents a symbol of power inside the yakuza underground. The only way to get out of this tricky situation is then to learn how to master the sword fighting and then the Wii remote to fight back all your enemies.

As you will go through the game, you will learn how attacks and moves. So my role at this level, as a scriptwriter, was to find an exciting way to make you learn how to manipulate the Wii remote. That is to say to find a scenario that fits to this game structure.

I came to the idea of having masters you can visit regularly and who will teach you new tricks. The mentors also give you all the values of a modern samurai. Among them, there are control and mastery, which are the keys to be a very good player with the Wii remote. If you control your moves, you?ll be super efficient. If you just gesticulate, it will be much harder & exhausting.

As you can see, my job is to find situations, dialogs and characters that make you live the game system as something really exciting and not artificial.

I hope you will really enjoy discovering more while playing Red Steel soon!!

Hi everyone,
Welcome back on the Red Steel Blog! This week again I?ll introduce you to more dev team guys.

Wilfreed Trottet
Hi, my name is Wilfreed and I?m Lead Animator for Red Steel. For that I?m dealing with a team of six animators & I?m in charge of everything moving in the game from characters to fish, working closely hand-in-hand with my programmers.
I like fish and programmers ?

Francois
I am the Lead Engineer on Red Steel, so with the 12 people on my team we have learned how to master the Wii hardware and we use it at its best for all parts of the games: graphics, sound, controls, animation, SFX, AI ?

Romain
My name is Romain and I am in charge of all the cut scenes in the game. So, I work with a story boarder and then my team is transforming this script into scripted events and programming the camera to make it happen ?live? in the game.

Gregoire
I am the Lead Sound Designer on Red Steel. So I am in charge on anything that sounds: music, voices, ambiances, sound effects ? I am working on creating them but also on integrating them inside the game. So my team and I mix all those sounds and program how and when you will hear them while you play.

Damien
Hello, I am the Marketing Game Manager on Red Steel. I work closely with the core team to understand what they want to develop and see how it fits to the player?s expectations. I am also working with three people to produce all the screenshots, videos and information you read or see on the Internet or in magazines.

David
I am David and I am the Lead Level Designer. I manage the biggest team as I manage all the graphic and level designers that works on the different maps of the game. I organize the production of the assets and I check the quality of those levels with the core team.

While I know this isn?t the most riveting Blog entry, I think it?s important that you get to know the Red Steel team so when they post on various topics later, you?ll understand who?s who.

Thanks again for stopping by and we appreciate your comments and support. While I won?t share exactly what will be discussed in the next Blog entry, know that there will be a new reveal.

Hello everyone! This is Stephane, the Bachelor from the Red Steel team. I?m here today to let you know a bit more about the improvements and new graphic directions we have made since E3.

In May, the graphics of the E3 demo were a work in progress. Remember, we are working on a console that is also currently in development. The console's calendar therefore conditions our own calendar. We received the Wii kit one month prior E3. It was just too short to implement the style we had in mind in the E3 version at that time.

Also E3 was a major work step for us, as it was the first time we could see people on a grand scale playing the Wii games and especially Red Steel. It was indeed very rich in terms of feedback!

Now, we're working on developing our unique style specific to Red Steel ? one that will not only be a great support to the scenario and the gameplay, but also be the visual identity and signature for this new game. We also keep working a lot on the impact of the graphics and on the way the player plays as well.

To tell you, in few words, more about this style, I would say that it is visually really representative of a cultural shock of a US guy arriving in Japan. I mean, we focused a lot on all the differences that make a Japanese environment unique through occidental eyes.

Also 70s' "film noirs" are another source of inspiration. It sticks well to our scenario and the gangster and mafia atmosphere you?ll discover while playing Red Steel.

So, this style is one of our big focuses, among many other ones, since we couldn?t make it for E3. We?ve reworked the lighting system, improve textures and added even more breakable elements. I?m happy let you have today a first look!

Hi everyone, this is Marie-Sol! I want to take this week as an opportunity for some of the key developers behind Red Steel to introduce themselves and let you know what they?ve been up to lately.

Nicolas Eypert

Hi, I'm Nicolas Eypert; I'm the Creative Director of the game. My task is to direct all the design departments so that we deliver on our original vision. This can be compared to being the director for movies.

At this step of development where game systems like sword fighting, combat, sounds and all others, are now in the actual game levels, I?m going through all the game again and again to see how does the mix does and what we can fine tune to make sure we deliver on our original vision.

Roman Campos Oriola

I am Roman Campos Oriola and I am the Lead Game Designer of the project. I am managing a group of designers who are in charge of all the game mechanics. Currently we are focusing on tuning the sword fighting system.

Stephane Bachelet (the Bachelor)

My name is Stephane Bachelet and I am the Artistic Director on Red Steel. I am in charge of designing the graphic ambiance of the game for places, interface, SFX and lighting. My everyday job is now to supervise all the graphic designers? creation to check that they create maps that fit with the artistic direction we have set up.

I?ll explain to you at the end of July all the improvements and new graphic directions we have made since E3.

Jean-Baptiste Duval (JB)

Hi, I am Jean-Baptiste Duval and I?m Associate Producer. My role is to be with the team, in the trenches everyday. I?m in charge of the project & timing follow up. I can be seen as the team?s worst enemy.

But I?m also here to help them to accomplish their work, so I?m also their best friend! My team is the best one, working on the best project ever!

Jerome Collette

Hello, my name is Jerome Collette; script writer on Red Steel. I am in charge of all the storyline including dialog and character design. Lately, I have been checking the voice casting to be sure the voices fit the characters.

More people to be introduced and more details to be revealed very soon!